Mayor Daley's Olympic committee has a reasonably sound financial plan, but aldermen must keep a close eye on Chicago 2016's operations, according to a six-week review of the bid team's finances by the Civic Federation.
The 100-plus page review was requested by the City Council to test the financial assumptions put forth by bid officials about whether the 2016 Summer Games would be profitable. Fears that the Games would lose money and burden taxpayers have dominated public debate in the months before the Oct. 2 selection of a host city.
The watchdog group cautioned that the review was not a thorough financial audit and that time constraints limited the depth of the analysis. But the federation nonetheless said if Chicago 2016 sticks to its plan to buy additional insurance, the extra coverage would create "an effective safety net" to protect taxpayers in the event of problems such as cancellation of the Games, natural disasters or "loss of development financing."
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